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Well, I was a bit too overconfident going into the season. In AAA, Erie had the best offense but still finished second to Kalamazoo because apparently pitching matters.

The Major League team missed the playoffs for the first time since the war shortened 1918 season. Going into the final two weeks they need to win 7 games or more to avoid the franchise's first losing season since 1910. Part of the disappointing season is just bad luck, with the team under-performing their pythag by 4 games. Another reason is injuries to key members of the pitching staff. Defending Pitcher of the Year, Roy Lee Swift, missed 3 and a half months. Ace pitcher and largest free agent in Seattle history, Dick Redding, missed 7 weeks and then was sidelined by Shoulder Inflammation that would eventually require surgery ending his season at the beginning of July. The final reason is down seasons from the team's star players. Joe Harris had the worst offensive season of his 10 year career. The 32 year old had an OPS+ of only 106, the next lowest in his career was an OPS+ of 127 back in 1916. This is his contract year and looks to be his last year in Seattle and he will leave as the franchise leader in basically everything. Oscar Charleston missed a significant chunk of time due to injury (what a surprise) and when he played he was not nearly as dominant as his days in Detroit. But he still hit 23 home runs, good for top 5 in the West for that category. The teams starting SS and lead off man, Louwe Albas , missed most of the season due to injury, only starting in 44 games. Finally, The key part of last year's first place squad, Kid Wilson, dropped off to more expected levels. His OPS+ of 120 was solid but nothing compared to least year when his OPS+ was 168. Part of all these drop offs was worse performance, but the rest of the league also took a major step up.

There are some positives. The first is that despite all the previously mentioned difficulties, the team still has a chance to be above .500. Another is the waiver wire pickup of Bob Noble who was an all-star for the team. Bob Musial has played really well and looks like one of the best Second Baseman in the west, Unfortunately he was an all star snub. Pit Bunce was worse at the time and that gap has continued to grow since the all-star game. There are also a couple of rookies who have looked solid. The 30 year old Scott, Alan Law has an OPS+ of 127 in 70 games, with 13 home runs. Kit Chase has played very well in relief of Albas at Shortstop, with an OPS+ of 135 in 49 games. Seattle's first two picks in the 1923 draft both made the majors. Rube Lutzke was billed as major League ready when he was picked in the first round. He played poorly in AAA but after a revolving door of third baseman in Seattle failed to produce, he was promoted and he played well over the last month. Second round pick, Wid Matthews, saw some major ratings increases and surpassed Heinie Mueller as Seattle's best outfield prospect and has seen play replacing Charleston in center field.

Overall it was a disappointing season and we will see what happens in the off-season.

I mean, your biggest problem is that you're in a division with Milwaukee (who will always be good, now until forever) and Kansas--who breaks the game by playing something that resembles, but is not quite, base ball. It's not exactly cheating, but it's not exactly sportsmanly. You had a slightly off year, which was enough to push you below those two. You still look good for the future.

Can't really complain with anything this season in Philadelphia. We had some injuries, but they were the players I expected to get injured and they didn't miss too much time. Sophomore Cuban import Mario Sotelo was the surprise breakout player, although he's really stretched as a center fielder. As long as he's OPSing .945 it's fine, but that is certainly at the high range of his abilities. Silencing the haters, wunderkind C.J. Dagostino will probably be the team's offensive WAR leader, driving in over a hundred as a rookie while contending for Best Fielder at third base. If we don't collapse down the stretch we should have our third straight 100 win season - the three previous times we've accomplished that we've won a title over that stretch, something we haven't managed to do since 1903. First we have to try to avenge last year's division championship drubbing by the Knights.